WEEK IN REVIEW:STK 3 – UTA 2 (SO) (1/10/14): The Thunder finally broke the curse of the shootout as Joey Martin and Mitch Bruijsten scored in the first and second rounds of the skills competition, while Brian Foster kept all four Utah shooters at bay for the first shootout win this season. The game got off to a quick start as Matt Bergland pounced on a rebound to get the Thunder on the board just 1:04 into the game. Utah would tie the game up about eight minutes later but the Thunder would break the deadlock late in the second period. Martin made a great individual play to lug the puck up the boards, make a move around a defenseman, and put a shot on Utah goaltender Cody Reichard that was blocked. However, Greg Miller followed up on the play and put the Thunder ahead. The lead was short-lived as Mike Folkes scored his first professional goal just 45 seconds later. The score would remain tied until Martin broke the tie in the first round of the shootout followed by Bruijsten’s goal in the second round of the shootout. Foster stopped all four Utah shooters he faced for the Thunder’s first win in the skills competition.STK 4 – UTA 6 (1/11/14): This time it’d be Utah who’d have the lead and the Thunder to come back and tie the game up. With Utah up 3-1 it would be James Henry to pull the Thunder within one with just seven ticks left in the second period. The Grizzlies would get into some early penalty trouble, but would actually make the Thunder pay as Michael Pelech scored on a breakaway while shorthanded to restore the Grizzlies two-goal lead. It’d be the first shorthanded goal the Thunder have allowed this season. Not to be outdone, the Thunder would come back and score 2 powerplay goals thanks to Garet Hunt’s team leading 12th of the season, and a one-time blast by Joey Martin to tie the game at four all. Unfortunately, Matt Bergland would pick up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 1:59 to go in the game and that’s when Utah would finally strike on the power play courtesy of Phil Mangan. David Vallorani added his second goal of the game, an empty netter, to seal the Utah win.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
-Matt Bergland is 2 points away from 50 in his ECHL career
-Garet Hunt is 2 games shy of 350 in his ECHL career
-Jason Clark is 4 games away from 50 in his ECHL career
-Brian Foster is 5 wins shy of 50 in his ECHL career
-Ryan Hayes is 7 points away from 150 in his ECHL career and 17 games away from 200
-Corey Trivino is 9 games away from 100 in his ECHL career

RECENTLY ACCOMPLISHED MILESTONES:
-Parker Milner recorded his first career shutout as a professional in a Thunder 5-0 win over San Francisco on 1/4/14
-Shawn Boutin played in his 100th career ECHL game in a Thunder 5-0 win over San Francisco on 1/4/14
-Brian Foster played in his 100th career ECHL game in a loss to San Francisco on 1/3/14

TEAM NOTES:
-The Thunder are 10-6-0-1 on home ice while just 8-6-0-3 in road games. At Stockton Arena the team is +12 in goal differential while on the road the team has allowed one more goal then they’ve scored.
-Stockton has played in three overtime and five shootout contests. The Thunder have won all three games in extra time and just won their first game in the shootout on 1/11/14 when Joey Martin and Mitch Bruijsten scored and Brian Foster kept all four Utah shooters out.
-In the skills competition, the Thunder have scored just 4 of 31 attempts thanks to Joey Martin (x2), Mitch Bruijsten and former Thunder forward Brayden Irwin. Thunder goaltenders have allowed 6 goals on 31 attempts.
-The Thunder are 13-4-0-2 in games when they’ve scored first.
-The Thunder have the top power play unit in the league as they along with the Toledo Walleye, are the only teams that have converted over 20% of their power play chances. The Thunder have an overall conversion rate of 22.6%, but on home ice, the Thunder’s PP has struck 31.3% of the time. Away from Stockton Arena, the Thunder are 17 for 85 on the power play, good for a 17.6% conversion rate.
-The Thunder were one of the last three teams to not allow a shorthanded goal, but that streak ended on the Thunder’s 34th game of the season when Utah’s Michael Pelech scored a shorthanded breakaway goal.
-The Thunder are tied with the Cincinnati Cyclones for most goals in the league with 117. Evansville and Florida are right behind them with 113.
-The Thunder are second in the league in goals for per game as they average 3.44 goals per game behind only Cincinnati (3.55).
-Stockton is +10 in goals differential in the first period, +6 in the second, -5 in the third, and +3 in overtime.
-The Thunder are averaging 29.79 shots per game while allowing opponents to fire 31.56 per game. The Thunder have outshot opponents 12 times at Stockton Arena and just 6 times on the road.
-Stockton is 11-3-0-1 when leading after the first period, 14-0-0-2 when leading after two, and 12-5-0-1 when they outshoot an opponent. However, the team is 2-9-0-1 when trailing after the second period and 5-7-0-2 when they are outshot by an opponent.
-Oddly, the Thunder are great in games decided by 1 goal, or games decided by 4 or more. In 1-goal games, the Thunder are 10-2-0-4 and in games where the team has finished with a 4-goal or more lead the team is 7-0-0-0. The Thunder have only won one game when the game is decided by 2 or 3 goals in 11 tries.
-The Thunder have had the most success against the Bakersfield Condors, having gone 4-1-0-1 against the Pacific Division rival, however, the Thunder have posted just a 1-4-0-2 record against the league best Ontario Reign.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
-Andrew Clark now ranks tied fourth on the rookie leaderboard with 26 points despite missing the last 10 games due to a call up to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
-Andrew Clark joins Alaska’s Peter Sivak and Ontario’s Kyle Kraemer as the only three players in the ECHL to score 5 points in a single game this season. Clark registered 2 goals and 3 assists in the December 15th game against Bakersfield.
-Joey Martin is tied 11th with Kyle Ostrow of the Colorado Eagles on the points leaderboard with 33. Martin is tied for 3rd in the ECHL with 25 assists along with Alaska’s Peter Sivak, and Idaho’s Mitch Wahl.
-Landon Oslanski is tied for the rookie defenseman lead in points in points with 17. Oslanski is tied 12th among all defenseman in points.
-Landon Oslanski is also tied for third in Powerplay goals among defenseman with 3.
-Ryan Constant is tied first in points with Evansville’s Matt Krug and Fort Wayne’s Jace Coyle on the defensive leaderboard with 22 points (5-17-19).
-Nathan Deck is tied 10th among defenseman with 18 points (4-14-18).
-James Henry leads the team with a +16 rating. His +16 plus/minus is second behind Colorado’s Mark Nemec on the rookie leaderboard.
-Mitch Bruijsten has 9 points (4-5-9) in 10 games played since signing with the Thunder on December 20th.
-Greg Miller and Joey Martin lead the team in Powerplay goals with 4. Miller is also tied second in the league among rookies in Powerplay goals with South Carolina’s Marc Hagel and Evansville’s Jeremy Langlois.
-Greg Miller is tied 14th among the rookie point leaders with 19.
-Joey Martin and James Henry lead the team with 3 Game Winning goals. Other game winners came from Andrew Clark, Garet Hunt, Ryan Hayes, Corey Trivino, Greg Miller, Landon Oslanski, Shawn Boutin, and the departed Brayden Irwin and Kirill Kabanov.
-James Henry’s three game winning goals has him tied with only South Carolina’s Marc Hagel for the most game winners scored by rookies in the ECHL.
-Andrew Clark still leads the team in shots with 77 followed by Joey Martin (74), Garet Hunt (73), and Nathan Deck (68).
-For Thunder shooters who have fired over 50 shots on net, Garet Hunt has the best shooting percentage on the team, having scored on 16.4% of his 73 shots . James Henry is behind his captain with a 16% shooting percentage (50 shots). Greg Miller is right behind him having scored on 15.7% of his 51 shots.
-Despite missing the last 11 games, and a total of 16 this season, Mathieu Gagnon is third in the league among rookies with 9 fighting majors. He also ranks fourth among rookies in penalty minutes with 71.
-Brian Foster ranks fourth in the league in saves made with 631. Foster’s 14 wins sits him third in the league.

INJURY REPORT:
-Ryan Hayes was placed on the 21-day IR with an upper body injury on 11/27/13
-Michal Spacek was retroactively placed on the 21-day IR with an upper body injury on 12/14/13
-Jason Clark was retroactively placed on the 21-day IR with an upper body injury on 12/26/13

A FLUFFY, CUTE, AND INCREDIBLY FUN STORM IS BREWING AT STOCKTON ARENA:
The Thunder’s next home game on January 18th will be a stormy one as cats, dogs, bears, and maybe even a stuffed banana will rain down onto the ice when the Thunder score their first goal against the Bakersfield Condors during Teddy Bear Toss night! Fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to the game and when the Thunder score their first goal, chuck them out onto the ice. All of the stuffed animals that are collected will be donated to The United Way. Bring your group or get your tickets now as over 5,700 tickets have already been sold! The Thunder were in Bakersfield for the Condors Teddy Bear Toss night, where their rival collected 7,477 bears. Let’s show the world what Stockton can do!!

SEASON TICKET HOLDER CHALK TALK WITH COACH KROMM ANNOUNCED:
On Sunday, January 19th prior to the Thunder taking on the San Francisco Bulls at 4:00 p.m., the Thunder will be hosting a Chalk Talk for Season Ticket Holders only, as they’ll have the privilege to speak with Thunder Head Coach Rich Kromm and ask questions about the game, how the team has been doing, and the finer points of coaching. Season Ticket Holders will enter through the conference room doors located near the North Entry at 2:30. Chalk Talk will begin at approximately 2:40 and will go for 20 minutes.

SEASON TICKET HOLDER GIFT AVAILABLE JANUARY 19:
Many of you have been asking and they’ve finally arrived! If you are a Season Ticket Holder, be sure to pick up your holiday gift at the Thunder Information Booth located near the North Entry and the Silver Bullet Bar beginning on January 19. We don’t want to let the surprise out yet, but it’s something special that can be hung up!

GET YOUR HEART WALK OR FAITH GROUPS READY:
On February 1st, the Thunder will host Hockey with Heart and Faith Night at Stockton Arena. If you have a Heart Walk team, be sure to log on to StocktonThunder.com/Heart to sign your team up for a great fundraising opportunity.

It just so happens that the game on Saturday the 1st will also be Faith Night. Bring your faith group to the Arena and stick around after the game for activities celebrating faith. For more information on how you can bring your group to Faith Night, call the Thunder front office at 209-373-1500 to set yours up today.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ON THURSDAY:
The Thunder will be making a big announcement on Thursday. Be sure to check out StocktonThunder.com for the news!

FROZEN MOMENT:
Josie Vimahi and the Utah Grizzlies were kind enough to allow us to use photos from the roadtrip in Utah over the weekend. Ms. Vimahi captured this great celebration photo of Matt Bergland, after the winger scored to open the series up just 1:04 into the first game between the teams!

FAN PICTURE OF THE WEEK:
Special thanks goes out to Chris Sutter as he was one of the Thunder fans in attendance at the Maverik Center in Utah. Chris captured this photo just before J.P. Burkemper and the league leader in penalty minutes, Danick Paquette (#20) would square off at the 9:19 mark in the first period. Both Burkemper and Paquette would receive five-minute majors for fighting and game misconducts for the secondary altercation. Both combatants landed big punches, but it’d be Burkemper who ripped the jersey completely off of Paquette, earning the Utah forward another game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down.

TWEET OF THE WEEK:
The Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah has a lot of history as Team Canada won the 2002 Winter Olympics there. The sad thing, the room that once saw some of the greatest players our game has had to offer has been converted from a locker room. However, Team Canada signed the walls and the Arena put plastic over top of them to forever preserve them. We sent pictures out and asked you the fans who you thought the signatures belonged to! How about this one from @ibrknthanez who saw the same #66 Mario Lemieux signature that we saw, as well as a Jarome Iginla and Rob Blake signatures!

@StocktonThunder def Mario Lemieux!! … and Iginla.. and on the right Rob Blake maybe??